Afghanistan’s Tragic Throne

After three decades of quiet exile in Rome, Afghanistan’s 87-year-old former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, is the center of attention: to the U.S., he is Afghanistan’s best hope for a democratic government; to the Taliban, he is “the source of all evil”; to many of his people, he is their only hope. Under the Uzis of Zaher Shah’s guards, Judy Bachrach takes the measure of a man who was crowned at 19 after witnessing his father’s assassination, gave Afghanistan a constitution, and now—as he watches his country’s latest agony—must fight to regain the power he never sought.